Art and method of making shoes



Jan. 6, 1931; 3 w FREEMAN 1,788,234

ART AND METHOD OF MAKING SHOES Filed Jan. 25, 1927 -l \O INVENTOR.

L E 7 ATTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 6, 1931 UNITED STATES PAT NT OFFICE? BENJAMIN w. EREEMAN, or CI CINNATI, 01110 ART AND METHOD or MAKING sirens Application filed January. 25, 1927.- "Yse iiu No. 163,515.,

invention relates to methods of formmg and fastening the'bottoms of shoes, and

more particularly to methods offorming and fastening the heelportionsof the sole to shoes which are to have woodenheels. The invention relates to a novel method of mak ing shoes in which attaching the heel'to a shoe h'asa co -operative effect on the method of forming and attaching the sole.

costly hand labor required in the heel seat; ing or rand shaping operation preparatory to the attachment of wood heels, which requires the hand labor of a highly skilled-operator.

. W'ith the elimination ofthatpart of a sole which has a randportionit' is myobject to a provide iin-eansof securingthe soleadj'acent the heel breast securely as a shoe bottom.

Other advantages of my new method such as the saving in material required will be noted duringthe course of the ensuing disclosure.

The use of the short outsole has been suggested at'various times but'no one has" ever produced 'a method such as the one herein disclosed which is adapted for usein the commercial production of shoes. The objects of heretofore known methods have been the saving of sole leather'and alleged advantages in 3 other than in the sole fitting operation, and

while these several developments have suggested short out'soles formedfor registry with the heels, they have never disclosed or suggested any practical principle of shoe manufacture to avoid in a practical and useful manner: the expensive labor of heel seat fit.- ting. ,Furthergno one has provided a method adapted for use in the making of shoes having wooden heels. novel method of making-shoes has as its object the saving effected in the heel seating operation and my method produces a commercially salable product. To the best of my knowledge and belief no one has previously devised amethod or made possible such economies in the manufacture of. shoes, particularly where wooden heels are used, as I contemplate.

Referring to'the drawings in which I have illustrated several partially assembled shoe One of the objects of'my invention is to provlde a process whichwill eliminatethe' parts showing the constructive principle involved:jj m I Figure 1 is "a bottom'plan View of'a par tially' assembled 'sh'oeillustrating the method of attaching the outsole of a shoe bottoml Figure 2 is a section along the lines 25-2 in Figure 1. l

Figure 3 is a'section in Figure 1; i Figure 4: is a longitudinal section through along the lines 3.3

the shoe at the heel end after the attachment metal plate 6; I preferably take the outsole piece 3 and cut with a'machine driven die a' tongue .7. at the heel end of the outsole. The shape of this tongue may be in accordance with any desired pattern. Since in theparticular example ofturned shoe shown I is a section along the lines 77 have electedto attach a wood heel having an attaching surface contoured in accordance with. standard practice at present, the tongue 7 will be preferably formed to conform to this contour. The wood heel indicated at 8, it will be noted, has a cup shaped contoured attaching surface .9. It is usual to cover the heel 8 with softleather, which is brought up over the attaching surface and tacked or I cemented down tothe edge portion of the heel, as indicated at 8a. I have shown in Figure I thefbroken line 10indi'cating the edges of the upper in the heel portion of the shoe bottom, secured to the shoe bottom Wlth the tacksll. As the heel to be attached is of decidedly contoured base surface, I have provided'a filling piece 12 which is shown in positionin Figure 1 secured with thetacks 13. It will be obvious that when it 1s. de-

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manufacture of shoes, the base of the heel should be concavely contoured because the 'heel seat portion at the time the heel is attached presents a convex surface. .A further reason why shoes with wood heels require that the heels should have concavedbases is to enable the covering of the heelwhich usually has the same finish as the upper to make a snugjoint at the meeting line betweenthe heel and the upper; The sole of the shoe is normally of leather-having peripheral edges which are rough and unfinished. If the sole shoe upper.

was visible. and could be seen interspacing the heel and the upper the appearance would be greatly marred. This was one of the reasons why shoemakers adopted a plan of ex tending the sole back under the heel and then cutting it ofi so that the outer peripheral edges of the base of the heel would prac tically abut the lower outer surface of the The finish of the shoe would then extend from the "top of the heel to the top of the upper with no sole showing at the intersection of heel and upper. It isjthis structure which has required the heel seating operation which consists in cutting away the rand of the sole or that part which is cut away so that the edges of the base. of the heel and the upper can meet. Therefore, the

particular expensive step in the manufacture of shoes which I propose to make unnecessary relates specifically to shoes with wood heels. No problem of heel seating exists in the manufacture of shoes with leather or composition heels as the attachment of leatherheels requires nothing more than the attachment of one surface to another, and

the outer surface ofthe heel being finished to the same appearance as the outer surface of the sole, the necessity of cutting away the rand portion is not present. I I

'I have shown the tongue 7 of the outsole tacked to the shank witha line of tacks 1 4, this being one of a number of methods which may be used for firmly securing the outsole so that there will be no tendency of the outsole to break away from the shoe bottom or open at the heel breast. f

In forming the rear part of the outsole it is desirable to taper off the sole lying under the heel breast, as indicated at 14a, so that when the heel is attached it will tend to provide a firm interlock in the heel breast joint.

While I have shown one specific form as applied to a turned shoe the same plan of operation is applicable to other types such as Welts,

7 will be apparent to those skilled in the art as to the fasteningand manner of fastening the rear portionof the outsole according to the class or type of shoe with which my method is employed. As no one previously has in dicated any method of eliminating the present expensive method of heel seat fitting, and strengthening the attachment of the sole in the heel breast portion, Iclaim the same broadly herein.

' For attaching the tongue12 to theshoe bottom I have shown a structure in Figure 4: which will provide a firm interlock; This consists'of a heel nail indicated at :14?) which may be driven from within the shoe through the tongue and" into the. heel. Such nails may be inserted in otherdire' ctions than that indicated or other mean'siof fastening-may be used. o

I'have illustrated only one kind of heel which is of military type. It will be within the range of mechanical skill to apply other type heels than those indicated in a similar manner. The various modifications in the methods of combining the heel end of the shoe bottom and the heel are adapted for 7 use withthose types of shoes wherein the breast cover of the heel is formed by a flap or lodge'usually formed from the grain por- I tion of the heel seat end of the sole.

It will be apparent that there are many modifications which will readily occur to those skilled in the art. The essential feature of my new method of making shoes lies in theentire avoidance of the present method of heel seating, and within the scope of those modificationswhich may be suggested by the method which I have described, I claim this art and method broadly.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and'desire' to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The method of making shoes with wood heels having concave bases, which comprises forming a short outsole for part of the shoe bottom, shaping a filler piece to fit within the concave base surface of a wood heel,'and independently applying the filler piece to the shoe bottom and then applying the wood heel.

' 2. The steps in the making of shoes with wood heels having concave bases, which comprises making a shoe sole with a portion of the sole extending no farther under the attaching surface of a wood heel than may be required to form an inter-engagement between the edge of the outsole and the upper surface of the heel, attaching the extension to'the shoe bottom, and providing ashaped filler piece and independently applying same to the shoe bottom to fit between the upper. surface of the concavity of the heel and the shoe bottom.

3. The art of making shoes with wood heels 7 having concave bases without a sole heel seat fitting operation, comprising the steps of using'a short outsole,strengthening the "attachment of the sole to the shoe adjacent the heel breast, and then applying a shaped filler piece to the shoe to fit the concave base of the heel.

4. The method of making shoes with Wood heels having concave bases in such manner as to obviate the necessity of removingthe w rand from the heel'portion of the sole as a wood heel seat fitting operation which comprises forming a short heel portion of an outsole to fit the base'portion ofa heel, said forming operation providing a sole extension beyond the heel breast line at each end of the heel breast line of the sole, to be pressed against the shoe by that portion of the heel adjacentthe heel breast at the ends thereof, and fastening the sole adjacent'the ,7 heel breast at the sideedges of the heel breast,

and independently applying a shaped filler piece to fit the concavity of the heel base.

5. The artof making shoes with wood ploying a short outsole having an extension overlapping under the attaching surface of a wood heel of the character specified, and providing a filler piece to complement the shape of said extension and form therewith a surface shaped to fit the recess of the attaching surface of the heel.

7. The steps in the making of shoes with wood heels having recessed bases which comprises, making a shoe sole with a portion of the sole extending under the attaching surface of a wood heel so as to form an interlocking joint therewith between the extension of the sole and the attaching surface of the heel, and providing an independent shaped :filler piece to complement the shape of the sole extension and fill out the space within the recessed portion of the attaching surface of the heel and the shoe bottom.

BENJAMIN W. FREEMAN. 

